Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Details of 100 Million Facebook Users Compiled, Distributed Over Bit Torrent
July 29th, 2010Via: MSNBC: The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will now be unable to make their publicly available information private. However, Facebook downplayed the issue, saying that no private data had been compromised. The information was posted by Ron Bowes, an online […]
CIA and Google Fund Same Web Surveillance Startup
July 29th, 2010Via: Wired: The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships […]
NSA: New 1.8 Million Square Foot Building at Fort Meade
July 27th, 2010This is in addition to the new 1.5 million square foot facilities in Texas and Utah. Via: WBAL: A draft environmental impact statement said that a project by the National Security Agency will bring 6,500 workers to the Fort Meade area, challenging the area’s infrastructure. The NSA statement said the planned expansion will cost at […]
Australia: 90% of Web Surveillance Document Censored to Stop ‘Premature Unnecessary Debate’
July 23rd, 2010Via: Sydney Morning Herald: The federal government has censored approximately 90 per cent of a secret document outlining its controversial plans to snoop on Australians’ web surfing, obtained under freedom of information (FoI) laws, out of fear the document could cause “premature unnecessary debate”. The government has been consulting with the internet industry over the […]
Information About DHS FOIA Requesters Reported to Political Staff
July 23rd, 2010Via: AP: For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured hundreds of requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press. The department abandoned […]
Joint Special Operations University: Blogs and Military Information Strategy
July 21st, 2010Via: U.S. Special Operations Command / Hosted at Cryptome (PDF): In this regard, information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence already within the target nation, group, or community to pass the U.S. message. In this way, the U.S. can overleap the entrenched inequalities and make use of […]
Amendment Slipped Into Health Care Legislation Would Track, Tax Coin and Bullion Transactions
July 21st, 2010You already knew about this, but just in case… Via: ABC News: Those already outraged by the president’s health care legislation now have a new bone of contention — a scarcely noticed tack-on provision to the law that puts gold coin buyers and sellers under closer government scrutiny. The issue is rising to the fore […]
Top Secret America
July 19th, 2010Blah. The map doesn’t show the names of the companies. Additionally, according to the fine print on the map: “The locations of company headquarters have been adjusted to appear on the map within a mile of its actual location.” *shaking head* I guess this might deter some under-12-year-olds from figuring out the locations. You can, […]
Gold and Silver Transactions with Dealers Over $600 Will Require IRS Filing Effective January 1, 2012
July 19th, 2010Via: Numismaster: A blizzard of paperwork could be about to hit numismatics. Passage by Congress of the national health care legislation has had an unintended consequence to the nation’s coin collectors, vest-pocket dealers who buy and sell coins, and larger dealers who are frequent buyers of coins that collectors periodically liquidate as they trade up […]
Former NSA Executive Thomas A. Drake May Pay High Price for Media Leak
July 16th, 2010Via: Washington Post: Throughout 2009, Drake’s attorney appealed to the prosecution to dismiss the case, arguing that Drake had violated no law. But in November, with a new prosecutor at the helm, it became clear that the case would move ahead. That month, Drake ran into Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, in Bethesda. […]
